Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg got some great news Friday. The Democratic National Committee announced it would drop its donor requirement for its February 19 debate, meaning Bloomberg, who is self-funding his 2020 presidential campaign, could qualify for the debate stage for the first time.
That change follows a spike in Bloomberg's national polling as he's blanketed the country in ads in an explicit strategy to focus on the post-February states. It also comes several months after Bloomberg gave $300,000 to the DNC in three donations on the same day in November.
Bloomberg's Democratic competitors, already criticizing him for buying his way into the election, blasted the DNC for changing the rules in a way that appears to favor one candidate: Bloomberg.
"To now change the rules in the middle of the game to accommodate Mike Bloomberg, who is trying to buy his way into the Democratic nomination, is wrong," Bernie Sanders senior advisor Jeff Weaver said in a statement released by the campaign. "That's the definition of a rigged system."
Bloomberg made three separate donations of $106,500 to the Democratic National Committee on Nov.19, 2019,
according to Federal Election Commission records. Individuals are allowed to donate up to $106,500 to each national party account in the 2019-2020 election cycle,
according to FEC contribution limit guidelines.
Both the DNC and the Republican National Committee have three "accounts": One for the presidential convention, another for election recounts and other legal proceedings, and another for the party headquarters building, meaning that individuals can contribute up to $319,500 to the national party committees per cycle. It appears this is what Bloomberg did.
In addition to the donations made directly to the DNC, Bloomberg also made
an $800,000 donation that same day to the
Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund, a joint fundraising PAC between the DNC and state Democratic parties around the country which was established in 2017. Bloomberg also
donated hundreds of thousands to state parties around the country in November, according to FEC records.
The DNC
said its qualification threshold for the February 19 debate in Las Vegas would be winning a single delegate in either Iowa or New Hampshire, or meet polling requirements of at least 10 percent in four qualifying national polls or two polls of Nevada and South Carolina. The
January debate threshold, for example, was a polling requirement and at least 225,000 individual contributions.
www.vice.com
